China is the rock star of clean energy investment, Michael Liebreich, founder and chairman of the advisory board of Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), said here Wednesday.
According to new research published by BNEF Wednesday, global clean energy investments reached a record high in 2015, helped substantially by China's contribution, Liebrich told journalists during a one-day summit on clean energy.
"I described (China) in my remarks earlier as the rock star of clean energy investment as they really are now top by a pretty substantial margin," he said. Of the 330 billion dollars invested in clean energy in 2015, China invested 110 billion dollars, said Liebrich, substantially more than the United States, which invested the second-most, at 57 billion dollars.
Speakers at "the Investor Summit On Climate Risk: Advancing The Clean Trillion" included UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and former Mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg.
The summit brought investors together with world leaders to map out ways to increase investment in clean energy to one trillion dollars annually needed to keep global temperature rises well below two degrees celsius. Liebrich said he was confident that China would continue to contribute to increasing investment in clean energy, even as the economy transitioned, as made clear from the five-year plan.
The increased investment in clean energy in 2015 despite challenging circumstances was a positive sign, he noted. "For the clean energy sector sustained low oil and gas prices are concerning, there's no question," he added.
But Liebrich said positive signs, such as the new Paris climate change agreement reached in December, indicate that it is likely that investments in green energy will again reach new records in 2016. Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, told journalists that there were more and more opportunities for investors to do good and do well at the same time.
She said she had also seen a shifting understanding of what fiduciary responsibility involves. "It is not about a quarterly result. It is about the long term stability of the economy and of the industry as a whole," she added.
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